Shoes vs no shoes

I used a natural farrier once and I loved the way he trimmed the feet. It was bowl shaped and lifted the sole up and looked like it would work well. Unfortunately, within a short period of time the hooves started chipping badly because the way they were trimmed thinned the hoof walls. It took quite a few trims to get him back to normal and he now always has shoes on his front feet. I would like to try barefoot again because the shoes are slippery and I don't feel confident walking on pavement with them, but I don't know if his feet are hard enough to tolerate it.

You should try hoof boots, they are amazing!!! From what you said, I really think you'd love them. It's not a good idea to walk your horse on pavement because it doesn't give to his weight and allow his hoof to flex. Some people do it though and everything is fine, so my theory may be flawed. But hoof boots are like mountain climbing boots for people, they will give the horse a lot of traction on various terrains.

Walking on pavement actually lets the horse self trim naturally quite a bit. It's not really bad for the foot at all. It can be if you're doing more than walking tho bc then you get a lot of concussion on bones/joints.
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What about the mounted police who ride primarily on roads, what do they use?

Good question... I have no idea. Worth looking into.
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Ok so I looked it up on Wikipedia and it says they use specially designed rubber soled shoes to reduce concussion and improve traction. Sounds like a more permanent version of the removable boots. I should look into the boots because my horse is terrible clumsy and he slides on pavement and in the grass. I went over his head one time because he slid and fell walking down a slight grade in the grass. Makes me nervous for both of us.